Creating a visual voice for social justice, environmental and health issues resulting from the energy industrialization of Native American Homelands and Sacred Places.

Greater Chaco Landscape Project

Gas and oil development on and near Navajo communities in the Greater Chaco Landscape of the Southwest is growing at an exponential rate. In 2013 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) began preparing a Resource Management Plan Amendment and associated Environmental Impact Statement to address potential oil and gas exploration and development activities on the Mancos Shale/Gallup Formation within a 4.2 million acre project area. Surrounded by this development is Chaco Canyon World Heritage Site.

The 4.2 million acre project area is made up of a checkerboard of land ownership. Each green circle represents an existing well pad. Within a 10 mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park 19% of the lands are managed by the BLM. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) manages 79% of lands within the 10 mile radius. The remaining 2% is made up of State and private lands. Also within the Greater Chaco Landscape are Allotment Lands from the Navajo - Hopi Land Settlement Act. New gas and oil leases in the area surround Navajo community members. The BLM is opening up over 300 new leases in March 2018.

Fracking is the method of extraction in the Mancos Shale/Gallup Formation project area. Flaring of methane gas at well sites adjacent to Navajo home sites is routine. Health issues are without a voice. Current and proposed fracking operations in the area raise the dangers of unsafe drinking and livestock water resources.

The goal of Question of Power is to develop media and the resources necessary to create a visual voice for Navajo community members living within the gas and oil development area, the Greater Chaco Landscape, and the Chaco Cultural National Historical Park. Using still photographic images and recorded audio interviews with community members in the Greater Chaco Landscape area we are producing documentary stories providing a visual voice for the people. As in the past these stories will be shared with a broad audience via the worldwide web to inform and educate. Public lectures will be arranged at colleges and universities to further public education and understanding of compelling issues affecting all of us. The stories will be sent to major media outlets around the world via Redux Pictures. The complete body of work will be made available as support material for any future litigation purposes in support of the health and well-being of the Navajo community, the Hopi Tribe, future protection of the Greater Chaco Landscape, and preservation of Ancestral Pueblo sites, including Chaco Canyon World Heritage Site. Help support the project.